And when he's done pulling his foot out of his mouth...

[crowdog66]

... *sigh* It might take a while. The person in a question has stuffed it in SO deep.

'Dwelling crankily' on sex abuse case: bishop

The co-ordinator of World Youth Day, Bishop Anthony Fisher, today responded to a question about Cardinal George Pell's handling of a sexual abuse case by saying people are "dwelling crankily ... on old wounds".

His comments came after ABC's Lateline last night reported on Anthony Foster, whose daughters were raped by Melbourne priest Kevin O'Donnell when they were in primary school.

Mr Foster alleged Cardinal Pell stalled the family's compensation claim against the Catholic Church when he was archbishop of Melbourne.

Asked about the broadcast, Bishop Fisher told this morning's World Youth Day press conference: "The cardinal and I were otherwise occupied last night enjoying the youth festival so we didn't see the Lateline story.

"All I've seen is the reports in the newspapers today.

"Happily, I think most of Australia was enjoying [and] delighting in the beauty and goodness of these young people and the hope for us doing these sorts of things better in the future, as we saw last night, rather than dwelling crankily, as a few people are doing, on old wounds."

...

If I ran the world, this guy would be stripped of his rank and his clerical robes, coated in honey (inside as well as out), and thrown into a swimming pool full of fire ants. Perhaps that would give him a small taste of what victims of sexual molestation go through.

Comments

[matrixrefugee.livejournal.com]

To be honest.... I personally think in too many places, the media is turning the scandal of sexual abuse at the hands of the clergy, into a witch hunt or a McCarthy-era scare-mongering session. I've had to go on media blackouts more often than I can count because the local news has been wall-to-wall with the latest report of a recent new case coming to light. A young priest-friend of mine says he's walked into the gym or gone out grocery shopping while wearing his clerical collar and seen people give him a dirty look and pull their kids close to them when he just happened to walk by them. Frankly, I'm tired of hearing about it, I'm tired of some of the victims (one guy here in Massachusetts in particular) going into attention whoring mode and using the media like it's a therapist, and I wish that the media would point out that a child is more likely to be abused by a relative or a teacher than by a clergyman. Yes, it's horrible that some priests have violated their vows of celibacy and destroyed the innocence of too many children. All I can say is, unlike my mother, these victims didn't have to live under the same roof with their attacker, with the knowlege that he could attack them again at any time he chose.

[metisbutterfly.livejournal.com]

I hear what you are saying, MR. The media is self serving and can make a three ring circus out of anything, and the RC church isn't popular these days, so they do tend to capitalize on that.
But..
To me, when a member of the clergy (ANY clergy) violates a child, it is almost an added offense for them, as they are in a highly valued position of trust to the child and the community. While the child may not have to live under the same roof as the molester, they may have to put up with seeing the sicko preaching at church and hearing confessions, acting "holy" and further driving the stake in that the abuse was somehow the child's fault (which is a pedophile's lie of choice, in most cases.)

I can't speak for everyone, but what I think is being objected to by society is the fact that the Church outright refuses to compensate or even acknowledge the abuse in many cases, such as the one above. They also choose to "deal with" the perpetrators "internally" rathar than turn them over to the proper authorities. So, really, the abuse-effects could be doubled..not only is a child violated, but they get to hear from a trusted, powerful religious institution that their abuse isn't worth compensating or bringing this person to public trial..they will never get the small satisfaction of knowing that the molester was put behind bars and the church acknowledged their suffering and pain.
Does this make all priests perverts? Of course not. I, for one, was lucky in that my experiences with priests were positive for the most part, and certainly none of them ever abused me in any way. I do think it's unfortunate that the rest of the clergy gets painted with that brush. BUT, if the church doesn't want that to happen, then they need to show that they aren't putting up with these crimes by publically and personally trying to make any reparation they can..and I don't see that happening. What I see is whitewashing and protecting the perps, and leaving the victims out in the cold. The Church needs to realize that sex abuse IS rampant in the Church and was, and that something serious needs to be done, or else yes, one of the repurcussions will be that will be how the rest of the clergy gets treated.

As far as a child being more likely to be violated by a relative or teacher than a clergy person, I actually studied forensic child abuse in my capacity as a child welfare worker. A child is most likely to be molested by a person known to the family, according to statistics I read..and that can include clergy or relatives. The only reason relatives are often more predominant is due to having access to the child more often, but stats for clergy and teachers etc are sadly about the same, with clergy often coming out a little higher. As mentioned, clergy are in a position of trust and in many families and churches, it is drilled into a child's head to trust a priest and that they are "representatives of God", so if the priest tells them to do something, they do it. Frightening amounts of power and trust is given to these people, so conversely, there will be sickos that are attracted to it and abuse it for that reason.

Sorry to go on a rant here. I do hear what you are saying, and I mean no disrespect to Catholics in general. I just think that the insititution needs to change its ways or it is in danger of going the way of the dinosaur, or worse.